


you're like the thing that makes the universe explode

by openended



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Late Night Conversations, Mutual Pining, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 09:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10941438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/openended/pseuds/openended
Summary: "Kid, the only people that don't know you like Suvi are people who haven't met you and Suvi."Sara Ryder hasn't slept in a while. It makes for strange, albeit honest, conversations.





	you're like the thing that makes the universe explode

"Scott has this theory," Sara says, "about doorways."

Drack looks at her sideways, a little like she's lost her mind. Maybe she has - she's been awake since yesterday, possibly the day before. She's forgotten. It all blends together in a haze of code, coffee, and pie anyway.

"Yeah?" he says, poking at the tray of biscuits he's just pulled out of the oven. Seemingly unsatisfied with the poke, he slides the tray back in, grumbling about shoddy Initiative tech.

Sara brings her legs up onto the bench and crosses her ankles. "You know, between me and Gil, we could fix the temperature control on that."

"Then I wouldn't get to complain," he says, setting the timer for another five minutes.  

She shrugs - she can't fault him for that logic - and takes a slow sip of her coffee. She's probably long hit maximum saturation of caffeine in her bloodstream, but decaf tastes funny. "Open offer."

He turns around and leans back against the counter. "So. Doorways."

"Doorways," she says. "Scott has a theory that our brains have evolved to subconsciously associate doorways with change. So if you're stuck on something, just leave the room. Tech, email, crappy mood, whatever. Your brain automatically switches gears when you leave the room."

"Huh," Drack grunts. "That also why you guys walk into places and ask everyone else why you showed up?"

"Probably." She takes another sip. "Anyway. He read an article when we were kids, and never shut up about it. I'd be banging my head against a problem, and he'd just 'leave the room, Sara,'" she lilts her voice upward in a mockery of his deep baritone. "Never fucking worked."

Drack crosses his arms. "And doorways are what's keeping you up?"

"Oh," Sara says, "no." She glances at the door: still shut. "I have a crush on Suvi," she says, as evenly and plainly as if she were mentioning the rain on Havarl. Because she does. A big one. And that, far more than fixing her twitchy assault turret, is what's kept her awake since yesterday, possibly the day before.

He snorts. "No kidding."

She sighs and looks up at the ceiling. "It's that obvious?" Strangely enough, she doesn't mind it being obvious. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation, or whatever angaran fruit was in that last pie Liam made, but it's kind of nice being obvious for once. She's spent most of her life admiring from afar, with the objects of her affection never knowing how she felt. Not coincidentally, she's also spent most of her life single.

"Kid, the only people who don't know that you like Suvi are people who haven't met you and Suvi." The timer beeps and he turns to deal with the biscuits. Satisfied this time, he turns off the oven and moves the biscuits onto a cooling rack. "And because the whole crew's tired of watching you trip over each other - she likes you too."

Instead of the rush of nerves and adrenaline she expected - she _really_ ought to stop reading those asari romance novels Lexi keeps recommending - something settles. It's a warm and soft sort of something, comfortable. Happy, maybe. Been a while since she's had warm and happy settle in the base of her spine. She draws her finger across the metal table, connecting smudges together in swirls and curves.

"And if you ask her out today, I'll split my winnings with you."

Thoroughly unsurprised that her crew was betting on this, Sara smiles. "How much is the pot?"

"A thousand credits."

" _Damn_." She lets out a low whistle. "Alright, you're on." Five hundred credits will make for a _very_ nice First Date Fund.

They hang in silence for a while, Drack occasionally checking to see if the biscuits are cool and Sara sipping at her coffee. Soon enough, they hear an alarm start to go off in the crew quarters across the hall. It silences with a crash and a swear.

Liam's, then.

"Okay, I gotta know," Drack says. "Why'd you tell me about the doorways?"

"You asked what I was still doing up," she says.

"Thinking about doorways?" He sounds like he's about to march her off to Lexi for a psych eval.

She shakes her head. "No. Trying to solve a problem."

He grins. "Did it work for you?"

"For once, yeah." Oddly enough. She doubts it actually has anything at all to do with doorways, and entirely to do with finding Drack on the other side of one. Maybe that was the point of the doorway theory: finding what's on the other side.

The galley door opens, revealing a yawning Suvi. Upon seeing the other two, she quickly covers her yawn and mumbles an apology before opening a cabinet to find her mug.

"You gonna tell your brother that when he wakes up?" Drack teases.

"No," she says. "Once in fifteen years, it's statistically insignificant." And she's not giving him the satisfaction of being right about that stupid theory, even if he is in a coma.

Suvi looks at Drack, and then at Sara. "What are you guys talking about?"

Drack shrugs. "I don't know. Some batshit theory about doorways. Help yourself to biscuits."

The doors whoosh closed behind him, leaving Sara and Suvi alone. 

"Doorways?" Suvi asks, filling her tea kettle.

"Long story," Sara says. She glances at the clock: five minutes before Cora comes in, bright and ready for the day, twelve before Liam drags himself in, still half-asleep and begging for coffee. "Do you, uhm. Maybe sometime want to -"

Shit. Is there even a coffee shop on the Nexus? How does dating work in a galaxy with no infrastructure? She's about to be five hundred credits richer, but can she actually use it anywhere worthwhile?

It occurs to Sara that she has been awake for nearly 60 hours, and has possibly not thought any of this through - except for the part where she likes Suvi, and Suvi likes her.

Good thing that's the only part that matters.

"Yes," Suvi says, smiling as she slides into the booth beside Sara's feet.

Sara scoots back a bit, making more room for Suvi. "You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"You weren't going to ask me to do a spacewalk, were you?"

Sara grins. "Well, _now_ I am."

Suvi scrunches up her nose and gives Sara's feet a little playful shove. "I'd still say yes," she says, as the kettle begins to whistle. She stands up to fix her tea, and Sara just stares, a little starry-eyed.

Right on time, Cora comes in. She stops suddenly, staring at Sara. "Are you _still awake?"_

Part of Sara wants to give her a smart response - _no, I'm a holographic AI projection and the real Sara Ryder is sound asleep in her quarters_ \- but the rest of her yawns. It's like all 60 hours slammed into her at once. "Yes," she admits.

"Sara!" Suvi gently chides. "Go to _sleep_."

"Before Lexi finds out," Cora adds.

And _that's_ a scary enough thought to get Sara on her feet, and stop thinking about sleeping right here in the galley. "I'm going," she promises them both.

She sneaks a glance at Cora to make sure she isn't looking, and presses a quick, soft kiss against Suvi's cheek. Suvi smiles, wide and bright, and the warm happy feeling in Sara's spine starts to spread.

"Sweet dreams," Suvi whispers.

Sara doubts she could have any other kind with the memory of that smile behind her eyes.


End file.
